Many other people used social networks to mourn Jobs. His death ranked as the day's most popular topic on Sina Weibo, China's popular microblogging site, garnering more than 63 million posts before 8 pm on Thursday.

"Jobs' charisma was so overwhelming, and he contributed so much to the brand, so I'm afraid that it will take huge efforts for people at Apple to maintain the popularity of its products when the company is without this great guy," said Sam Yi, a frequent customer at Apple stores in Shanghai.

In Cupertino, California, flags outside Apple's headquarters flew at half-staff as mourners gathered on a nearby lawn. Distraught Apple fans left flowers and a man played the bagpipes.

Ben Chess, 29, an engineer at an Internet company and a former Apple intern, drove to Apple headquarters from San Francisco after work to lay flowers. "It's the right thing to do," he said.

Across the country in New York City, an impromptu memorial made from fliers featuring pictures of Jobs was erected outside a 24-hour Apple store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, with mourners snapping photos of it on their iPhones.

"We will miss you Steve, RIP. Thank you for your vision," read one flier.

At a Boston store, student Angelos Nicolaou said Jobs had "inspired us to be rebels and challenge the status quo. I hope there will be more leaders like him. It seems like the world is running out of them".

In Sydney, Australia, lawyer George Raptis, who was five years old when he first used a Macintosh computer, made his way to the glass-paneled Apple store when he heard the news.

"He's changed the face of computing," he said. "There will only ever be one Steve Jobs."

Reuters contributed to this story